Germany's Merz says innovation has key role in climate protection

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz wants to advance global action on climate change through the development of modern technologies.

“It is of no use whatsoever if we become climate neutral in Germany alone,” Merz told journalists on Friday at his summer press conference in Berlin. “Even if we were to achieve this today, nothing would change in the world tomorrow.”

Merz amplified his comments by saying that if Germany wants to contribute to solving this global problem, then the country must enable progress in the wider world through innovation.

He said that was why the federal government is focusing on technologies for capturing and storing climate-damaging carbon dioxide (CO2).

This, he said, had been “ideologically impossible” under the previous German government. His coalition, on the other hand, would “respond to this challenge with state-of-the-art technologies.”

He said that the large amount of fossil fuels burned worldwide over the past 10 years is “proof” that it cannot be done “with bans and regulations in Germany and Europe alone.”